As I spend this summer recovering from neurosurgery* I’m looking for a 40th present for myself and some mates for next year. What I think we’d like to do is a multi centre holiday, with lots of DH, a little uphilling but mostly uplifts (70-80%) and good guiding. I think it needs to be Europe, for cheapness of flights, and 7 days or less. The touring element is especially important as it brings an energy that you don’t get when you return to the same place each day.

So far I’ve seen Basque mtb which looks really good and Trailaddiction which looks also looks good but slightly more single centre? In the past we’ve mulled over the Mt Blanc tour and stuff but I was wondering if there are any other trips out there that the STW crowd recommended? I’d love to do the Housemartin tour in NZ but it’s too far! Damn kids etc…

*3 weeks post Crainiotomy for an AVM removal – all seems well thanks.

Could this be what you are after?

http://www.ciclomaroc.com/

Ciclomaroc looks interesting – I’ve not been to Morocco for many years, it still looks dry! Love the donkey uplift element

Is it a trip you’ve been on?

Looks like an offshoot of ciclo Montana in Spain. Went on one of their trips a while back

Yeah it’s a Ciclo offshoot, who we’ve been going to for a number of years. A bunch of our group decided to do the Morocco trip last year, and came back raving about it, but I never made it out unfortunately as the week coincided with a family holiday. Next year maybe!

I am doing the Ben Jones tour of Mont Blanc this year, 23,000 metres of descending, worth a look.

Since you have already looked at Dougs’ site ill expand a bit on his backcountry trips. A bunch of have been out twice to do it and i have no real inclination to go anywhere else it is that good.

If you ping him an email he will give you a good rundown on what his plans are as i think he changes them a bit but the 2 years i went out we stayed in different accommodation every night bar Ainsa where we spent 2 nights. Mostly the riding is that perfect level of proper tech but not fall to your death if you get it wrong tech. Backcountry it is all the way and most days you finish very close to whichever accommodation you are staying in. Oh and the accommodation is amazing, proper rural hostels and villas. Food if you have never been to Basque is absolutely amazing s well.

Right i am srating to ramble. Chat to Doug but his holidays are absolutely 10/10.

Since you have already looked at Dougs’ site ill expand a bit on his backcountry trips. A bunch of have been out twice to do it and i have no real inclination to go anywhere else it is that good.

Doug’s back country trip does look pretty awesome & basque food is amazing too…

If it’s not too rude to ask would you mind letting me know what kind of all in cost your trip was? Happy if you want to email instead

Jimjamesjamesh(at)gmail.com

When I did the backcountry trip with basque MTB, my spending was around 200 for the week. The price of the trip is on their site, my flight was about 350 including extra for bike.

That 200(euros) covered quite a lot of good food, wine and beer.

Doug’s trip is a good one, and I do plan to go back another year. But there is quite a few people doing good guiding now, I have also had equally good weeks with Ash (trans Provence) and trail addiction, and others have equally good reputations and will have visits from me over the coming years, bike verbier, the white room, Ben Jones etc

Tour du Mont Blanc has a shed load of climbing – unless that trip has van uplifts

OP Basque could well be what you are looking for, a different location for most. Good for out of typcail Juky/Aug season too. I follow them on facebook (never been) and am very tempted

Trail Addiction – 2 bases. Around Les Arcs and Dest-X (Areches-Beaufort) – did the latter with them and it was excellent and just as they say, lots of singketrack with hardly any other riders and a planes, trains and automobiles feel to link it all up.

You might look at White Room Chalet also based around Bourg St Maurice valley – I’ve skied with them twice and they are excellent and the riding they put together looks great – its on my list

One last suggestion of you have the budget is Bike Verbier – I’ve never holidayed with them but they are very highly rated and always sell out. I have ridden Verbier 3 times and know I’ve nkt even scratchd the surface of what BV put on in Verbier and beyond.

All of the hokidays involve gtting back to base which imo is no bad thing as you may need to fettle the bike and its good to know you have a comfortable bed and can relax in the surroundings

Get on the facebook pages and websites and have a look

Good luck

Cheers, I did a short trip to bike verbier a few years back, it was indeed great, and should be on the list if we decide to not do the tour option. Thanks for the other options!

molini ?
medeira?

White Room are excellent and fit your bill.
Also doing My Blanc this year with that there Ben Jones.

basque food is amazing

Except the pigs trotters. I still gip at the thought…

Otherwise, its quite amazing out there.

This will get repetitive(!) but for what you’ve described the answer is BasqueMTB – their Back Country trips are simply stunning, and exactly what you describe.

He runs the trips spring and autumn (too hot away from the coast in the summer) If you’re interested you need to speak to Doug asap as I know these trips sell out very fast, with people often booking in for next year while on this years trip!

Just spent an epic weekend with Ride Sierra Nevada and have already booked again for next year.This looks like it might fit the bill http://ridesierranevada.com/trans-andalucia-enduro/

@StuE’s trip is indeed closer to the OPs desire for a road trip than Trail Addiction/White Room/Bike Verbier that I posted

@StuE what do the numbers look like, distance, vertical ascent and time riding each day ?

@jambalaya we did a long weekend based in Monachil and didn’t do the same trails twice,it was a mixture of uplifts in the minibus and some tough climbs made more so by the near 30 degree heat,the scenery is stunning and the trails are loose dry and steep and I have to admit I found them very challenging at times.We did 3 days riding with 2 days between 16-18 miles and 1 day which was 23 miles,and did 6-7 hours riding a day,no idea how many feet we climbed.We had a brilliant weekend with Shaun and Csilla who own and run ridesierranevada and will be back next year